Double murder scene motel shut down

White Pines Motel Shut Down. Town seized property for back taxesScene of last week's double murder, called "White Lines Motel"

The White Pines Motel, located at 3137 Cranberry Highway in eastern Wareham, has apparently been seized by the town yesterday for a failure to pay a rumored $65,000 in taxes.

The motel, shown on right, was the scene of a double murder last week, and has had the police there a dozen times before... since June. The last nine days saw a double murder and a police raid on some drug-pushing tenants at the White Pines. Police cars have been spotted there several times this week, although that could just be leftover murder-scene work.

This reporter learned of the seizure after interviewing some of the evicted tenants. They plan to squat, although I don't know how long they can work that angle.

The motel was most recently under the stewardship of John D'Italia, who had been working to restore the old tourist haven. D'Italia's daughter Candace was attacked during the brouhaha there last week that resulted in Richard Walling going stab-happy. Leonard Bolia and Ryan Aponte were murdered there last week by Walling, seemingly while performing an armed robbery. Walling, who claims self defense, faces multiple charges.

While the timing of the Pines' seizure is newsworthy, the motel had been threatened with seizure for some time before. The possibility of the town using the tax debt to knock Wareham's most notorious crime spot off the map can't be discounted.

Fear not, crackheads! The Rosewood Motel (the scene of Gia Giavangelo's going-away party), the Starlight Motel, the Silver Lake Hotel, and the Atlantic Motel- all in east Wareham- are still in business. Note that the White Pines people have all dispersed to other motels.

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